Francis Duggan

The War Hero - Poem by Francis Duggan

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He always wears his war medals on his coat of them he feels so proudAnd he has a hearing problem the reason he talks so loudHe says I'm a World war hero of which some don't wish to knowOf a battle fought in Europe more than six decades ago.

I often see him walking in the park or shopping complex with his long term wifeDevoted to him even in old age they have lived a long lifeWhen he started talking of his war years I could not bear with him longThough he is the inspiration for the making of this song.

I do not doubt he means well or in his young years he was braveBut far too many of his comrades went to an early graveTo me war is antiquated and it never solves anythingThough only of war heroes old war balladeers do sing.

He thinks he fought for freedom who told to him the lieFor so called freedom young men go to war and for so called freedom young men dieTwenty six million people in refugee camps what sort of freedom have theyAnd Human rights abuses rampant in the World of today.

On Anzac Day as usual he will be at the front of the paradeAnd he will love the adulation when much of him is madeWith his war medals upon his coat for everyone to seeHe may well impress some people but not the cynical like me.